Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Chinese banks have boosted interest rates on US dollar deposits as Beijing seeks to smooth the yuan’s rally, according to sources. The move is aimed at encouraging the holding of dollar deposits while managing the pace of the yuan’s gains, the sources said.

Ariana Grande sang a Christmas carol with Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro during an appearance on The Tonight Show on Sunday night. The trio interrupted Jimmy Fallon’s opening monologue to perform “O Christmas Tree”, after Fallon mentioned that the Rockefeller Centre tree had arrived and that the festive season was approaching. De Niro’s vocals at the end of the performance were dubbed. Grande, Stiller and De Niro were appearing ahead of the release of their upcoming comedy, Focker-In-Law, in which they play members of a family facing an increasingly chaotic weekend. Stiller returns as Greg Focker, who remains an…

Residents near the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro say overnight construction noise and vibrations have made it difficult to sleep, just days after the key Los Angeles County crossing closed for a 16-month, $750 million rehabilitation project. The bridge, which carries State Route 47 between San Pedro and Terminal Island, shut shortly after midnight on Saturday, November 7. Caltrans is replacing its deteriorating concrete deck and upgrading safety features, with reopening targeted for early March 2028. Alex Denysov, who lives close to North Harbor Boulevard, said construction activity had intensified sharply when the project began. He described the noise…

Prosciutto-wrapped chicken roulades offer a festive centrepiece for Christmas gatherings, combining tender chicken with a stuffing of cranberry, toasted pecans, sage, orange and bourbon. The individual parcels are roasted over orange slices and fresh herbs before being coated in a cranberry-bourbon glaze. The result is crisp prosciutto wrapped around a sweet and savoury filling, with the chicken kept moist during cooking. The recipe serves four to six and takes about one hour and 15 minutes to prepare and cook. It uses four large chicken breasts, 12 to 14 thin slices of prosciutto, fresh sage and rosemary, one orange and a…

Donald Trump has challenged JD Vance to say whether he would support launching the Iran war again, while insisting that the vice president’s criticism of the conflict has not damaged their relationship. Speaking before boarding Air Force One in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday night, the US president said “a lot of people” had disliked Vance’s comments blaming the eight-month war for the Republican Party’s crushing midterm election defeat. “No, not at all. But a lot of people didn’t like his comments, but not me,” Mr Trump said when asked whether the remarks had caused a rift between the…

The UK is expected to reduce its 2030 electric vehicle target to 60 per cent, according to a report. The reported change would lower the proportion of electric vehicles expected by the end of the decade, although no further details were provided.

Australian teenagers could be locked out of Gmail, Google Drive and other everyday communication services under proposed online safety laws, Google has warned a Senate inquiry. Rachel Lord, Google’s public policy manager for YouTube, said the Digital Duty of Care Bill could require the company to verify users’ ages and prevent under-18s from using services including email, messaging and private file storage. The bill is intended to protect children from pornography and fetish material. Google has argued that the relevant provisions should apply only to services whose sole or primary purpose is distributing pornography. As drafted, the legislation covers any…

New Delhi smog intensified after Diwali firecrackers were set off across the Indian capital, pushing air quality above 350 in several areas and exposing more than 30 million residents to severe pollution levels. The Hindu festival of lights was celebrated across India on Sunday. Despite restrictions on fireworks, residents in New Delhi used firecrackers through the evening, releasing smoke and fine particulate matter into the atmosphere. Air quality on Monday morning was classified as “severe”, posing significant health risks in relation to the World Health Organization’s recommended exposure thresholds. Seasonal pollution in New Delhi India’s Supreme Court imposed restrictions last…

Critica Limited has reported gallium extraction of up to 91.9 per cent and scandium extraction of up to 84.7 per cent from its 100 per cent-owned Jupiter rare earths project in Western Australia’s Mid West. The results raise the prospect of additional by-product value from two critical minerals that were not assigned any value in the project’s recent scoping study, which gave Jupiter an after-tax net present value of $2 billion. Gallium extraction was a marked improvement on the previously reported rate of 63 per cent. Five of the seven gallium tests achieved extraction of more than 84 per cent,…

A Kentucky election was decided by a coin toss after Democrat Kristen Fryman and Republican Benny Ray Renner each received 91 votes in Robertson County. The dead heat in the race for the county’s 2nd District magistrate seat was settled under Kentucky law, which permits tied elections to be decided by drawing lots. Renner called heads, but the coin landed tails, handing the position to Fryman. She also kept the quarter used to decide the contest. “We laughed about it, and I left here as the winner and with the quarter in my pocket,” Fryman told local public radio station…